“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4
Healing Grief
Listening to Floyd’s messages is emotional for me—sweet, tender, and tearful. Grief rises up in my heart again—it does that fairly often anyway. But seeing his face, hearing his voice, listening to him preaching—it emphasizes the loss.
I have been rereading some of my old updates—all the way back to 2018. I found a quote from another sermon of Floyd’s, “Grieve Well to Grow Well.” These words spoke to my heart:
“Nothing can prepare us for the loss of a loved one. And nothing can prepare us for the grief that follows. Grief is part of the healing process that we need, but it’s also very painful to walk through. There’s no set timetable for it. We each have to walk through it in the way that we need. It’s the method God uses to cleanse our heart from the anguish, and bring us back to a place of wholeness. It’s part of the journey we embark on when we lose a loved one, or lose something precious to us.”
It felt like Floyd was speaking right to my heart. And there is a powerful truth there. Grief IS God’s gift to us to heal us. The journey of grieving—for whatever we have lost—is a special journey of healing to bring us back to wholeness. I’m on that journey, and I would guess that many of you are too.
It was helpful to be encouraged once again that God understands grief, and that He uses it to bring healing to our hearts.
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).
There’s no timetable for grief, but there are an abundance of promises that God will meet us, help us, and heal us. A friend signed off his email to me with this phrase: “Peace in every heartbeat.” I love that! I think that’s what the Lord gives us when we are grieving.
Father, You understand our grief. We ask for Your comfort for those who are currently grieving. Bring healing to these hearts, for You see and know all that has taken place. Hold them close, Lord, and may they be whole again. Amen.
When I went through a journey of grief after my dad died, what helped me was knowing that Jesus grieved. He wept. He was sorrowful after John the Baptist died, and he went to a quiet place to be alone. He sighed when he healed. Jesus knows our grief. And because Jesus knows, God knows. This gift from God gives healing, hope, and restoration to our grieving souls knowing we don’t grieve alone and are loved through it.